Our studies are designed to reveal essential, new information about insulin and human growth hormone (HGH) secretion and action in the normal and diabetic state. Since our last application, we have established and quantified the metabolic actions of proinsulin on forearm adipose and muscle tissue and compared these actions with those achieved by equimolar doses of insulin. HGH has been studied in like manner at three dose levels. Our objective now is to determine the effect of (a) estrogen and metabolites of estrogen (b) extracellular potassium concentration and (c) previous diet upon the ability of both insulin and HGH to modify intracellular transport of glucose, free fatty acid, and amino acids. New data we have obtained indicates not one, but several hormone substrate patterns occur in plasma with fasting. Whole body studies will concentrate on the relation of body mass to the metabolic changes of fasting, clarifying the respective roles of insulin, HGH and glucagon. In HGH deficient dwarfs who resemble metabolically subjects with diabetes mellitus, the primary emphasis will be to determine the manner in which HGH modulates lipoprotein metabolism.